The Puffer Forum

Hoover's only hunting experience is with live snails...which he successfully keeps from ever touching the bottom of the tank (unless there is a huge hole in the side).

I decided to get him some ghost shrimp as a treat. After QT and gut loading, I put some in his tank tonight. At first, he totally ignored them and swam back and forth demanding that I REALLY feed him. After an hour or two, he decided to check them out, but they scared the heck out of him by actually moving by a force other than gravity. Then, you could see him thinking, "I bet I can sneak up on them and see what they taste like", but they kept turning around, facing him with claws out, and just generally looking very scary...

So, now I have a figure 8 and a small troupe of ghost shrimp in my tank. Since no real food (in his opinion at least) has been offerred, I'm hoping he figures it out tomorrow or the next day, but if not, aren't most ghost shrimp brackish anyway?

Eric

He may be waiting for lights out. I'm glad I was there to see that "whoa, they're not supposed to fight back" look he had when the first shrimp turned on him...it was priceless.

Eric

My F8 has had a ghost shrimp in with her for weeks now!!! we have even given him a name !!and he is getting really big, the cheeky devil even tries to take food from her and she doesn't seem bothered at all.
The weird thing is that she did eat the first few ghost shrimp that I fed her but this one must not be the right flavour or something lol
I don't think they are actualy friends but they do seem to cohabitate quite well , for now anyway lol
Sue

Susiejames comments pretty much parallel my experiences. It does take a period for new foods to be seen as foods, and some individuals do become tankmates for extended periods.

Well, if they cohabit for a bit, they'll provide a litte cleaning of food bits and algae...so it wouldn't be all that bad.

I'll see what's up when I get home...if he hasn't eaten, I'll toss him a few defrosted krill.

Eric

Yup, they are pretty good scavengers while they last.

kinda like my GSP's well they werent scared but I ended up putting atleast a dozen and they didnt care... so the shrimp acted like they owned the place... then one day they just suddenly feeding on them watching them hunt is one very enjoyable experience... feel sorry for the shrimp but to see the puffers excited and very active when hunting is something else. i still see ghost shrimp in my tank sole surviours i guess but they seem to be fine in close to marine conditions 1.019SG

I've got about 7 in the tank...I never see them together - just one one here or there...but I keep waiting for Hoover to decide they're a tasty treat.

Eric

The ghost shrimp live ok in brackish water?

I've read before than several are actually brackish, but I couldn't tell you how to tell which is FW vs. BW. They seem to be doing OK, and several folks have said theirs lived for quite some time...since they're likely to be eaten I'm not too concerned, and I'm only at 1.005 anyway.

Eric